Encore

There are not many things that I know I am passionate about, but France & everything to do with it, most of all the French language, is definitely on the list. At least it used to be when I was back in school, where I had studied French for 7 long years. Just how much I loved French, & how much I have missed it since came rushing back to me last Sunday, when I found myself at the Alliance Francaise , giving an orientation test to gauge my level of French. Before going over to Alliance, I had picked up my ol' school French Book (Mauger Bleu is what everybody called it... :-) ) I had intended to go over the basic stuff, hoping that it would all come back to me in a flash..! But, that was not to be. And the test proved the same, that I remembered very little. A 5th-6th grader would have done better than I did on that particular test. Still, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had been placed in the 3rd semester of their French course...!

Still, it was a great feeling to read, write, hear & speak French (there was an oral test of about 10 minutes duration as well) after so long... Coincidentally, last week, I recited two French poems that I had learnt at school, one of which a group of us school kids had sung as a welcome for the French Ambassador to India, when he had come visiting my junior school (D.P.S., East of Kailash, for the record..), to a colleague at work.

The first one,

Am stram gram
Pic et pic et colégram
Bourre et bourre et ratatam
Am stram gram pic dam!

and the second one...

Sur le pont d’Avignon
L'on y danse, l'on y danse
Sur le pont d’Avignon
L'on y danse tous en rond

Les beaux messieurs font comme ça
Et puis encore comme ça
Les belles dames font comme ça
Et puis encore comme ça

Sur le pont d’Avignon
L'on y danse, l'on y danse
Sur le pont d’Avignon
L'on y danse tous en rond

Les militaires font comme ça
Et puis encore comme ça
Les musiciens font comme ça
Et puis encore comme ça

Sur le pont d’Avignon
L'on y danse, l'on y danse
Sur le pont d’Avignon
L'on y danse tous en rond

Francaise, je t'aime...! :-)

Comments

  1. I'm sure you will have plenty to add on this topic when you return from your Exchange program..but yes this post gives a picture of how much France fascinated you back then also

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  2. Funny thing though. I am now fighting the demons that are telling me not to go to France after all. Or is the part of me that wants to go the demon? I'm not sure.

    I haven't decided yet, but I am afraid that my fascination with France might remain just that, at least for the time being.

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